It’s 1681, and London cooks in summer heat. Bonfires are lit in protest against the King’s brother, James, heir to the throne but openly Catholic. Rumours abound of a ‘Black Box’, said to conceal proof the King’s illegitimate son is really the rightful heir. When a wealthy merchant’s daughter is kidnapped and murdered — even […]
Bedlam, Robert Hooke and Henry Hunt
The latest in Robert J Lloyd’s Hunt and Hooke crime novels takes Robert Hooke and Henry Hunt to Bedlam, the recently-rebuilt Bethlehem Hospital — which Hooke himself designed. Rob looks at the extraordinarily wide range of interests these two 17th-century scientists had in real life. The two main characters in my Hunt & Hooke series […]
How to Solve Murders Like A Lady by Hannah Dolby
Violet Hamilton is no ordinary lady. She is a Lady Detective, who spends her time solving mysteries and unveiling scandals in the bustling seaside town of Hastings and St Leonards, a popular spot for the Victorian middle classes. But when the body of a local woman is found on the beach, Violet’s efforts to investigate […]
The Black Crescent by Jane Johnson
1950s Morocco is full of murder, magic and divided loyalties… Hamou Badi is born in a mountain village with the magical signs of the zouhry on his hands. The zouhry is a figure of legend, capable of finding all manner of treasure. But instead of finding treasure, young Hamou finds a body. Haunted by this […]
Magic versus jadoo in 1920s British Colonial India
Harini Nagendra writes about the street magicians of India and how these performers of jadoo fascinated Westerners, who copied their ‘tricks’ unashamedly. But the jadoogars, unlike some of their cobras, still had fangs. Growing up in India in the 1970s, I read widely, but was especially fascinated by books that featured animals, and magic. Enid […]
The Skeleton Army by Alis Hawkins
The Salvation Army has come prancing and singing from the slums of London to the poorest quarters of Oxford, but along with its red hot gospel preaching and music hall songs it brings a prohibition message which sparks immediate opposition and violence. An Army soldier – an ex-drunk – is brutally killed and a note […]
The Red Hollow by Natalie Marlow
Warwickshire, 1934. Deep in a hamlet in the Warwickshire countryside, Red Hollow Hall is a male-only sanatorium run by the charismatic psychiatrist Dr Moon. However, all is not well, and Dr Moon’s patients are leaving Red Hollow in droves. Recent disturbances, which originally appeared to be pranks, have descended into something more sinister, and now […]
How I discovered my war hero uncle’s secret
Douglas Jackson’s Polish uncle was a bit of a family legend. But it was only while researching his Warsaw Quartet series that Doug discovered that Uncle Kazimierz was a war hero, a secret that he’d kept after the Second World War. The perennial question that eventually faces every writer is: Where do I go next? […]